The county's wildfires

Letters to the editor for May 16, 2014: Fires; D.A.R.E.; government spending; classical music; nature

Where is the fire prevention money?

Two years ago Gov. Brown starting taking $150 from each backcountry resident for a “fire prevention fee.” This was to be used for prevention only and not to used for firefighters or planes because it would have been a tax requiring a vote.

There is no evidence in my community or anywhere that this fund of millions of dollars is being used for prevention or anything to protect our homes. All prevention is being done by the residents themselves and at their cost.

I challenge Brown, all of the other hopefuls on the ballot and my elected representatives in office to open the books (maybe to the U-T Watchdog) and show the voters where this money is and what it has been spent for.

Janet Bragdon

Julian

‘Thank you’ to first responders

Over the past 72 hours, hundreds of brave men and women have risked their lives to save our lives and our “stuff.” There are not sufficient words to thank the firefighters and other first responders who continue to give their all. For now, “thank you” will have to suffice.

Ellen Brown

San Carlos

County’s fires appear suspicious

Look at the map on page 2 of the May 15 U-T. Every fire was started near a roadway. Do we have an arsonist?

Richard L. Wagner

San Diego

Fire add

Here we go again. When the wildfires come it never seems to occur to the broadcast media that they are not covering a downtown warehouse fire or a freeway accident to a mildly curious audience. They somehow never grasp the profound difference in a wildfire: They are talking to tens of thousands of fearful people with zero interest in what the scene looks like or how the narrator feels about it, but who do need to know with terrible urgency exactly where — specific neighborhoods, cross streets, etc. — the fire is and, above all, where it is heading.

When there is a wildfire near your community turn off the radio and go online to the San Diego County Emergency website at sdcountyemergecy.com. You will instantly get the information you need so badly.

On the other hand, if you do not know what a firefighter, a firetruck or, for that matter, a fire looks like, by all means turn on a local broadcast station. Channeling Dan Rather hanging on to a phone pole in a Tampa hurricane, some “reporter” will not only describe it all for you in breathless detail, but tell you how she or he feels about it.

Dale Delmege

Escondido

Fire add II

I hope all you anti-government folks take note of the fact that the women and men risking their lives to fight multiple fires are part of the dreaded government. Not only that, the people who trained them and deploy them are those “bureaucrats” you mock. The money to fight the fires comes from the much-maligned government.

And then, of course, there are the climate-change deniers who are being confronted with the awful reality of what we humans have done to our only home. It’s past time for them to face the facts.